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Monthly Archives: October 2011

It will be owned and operated by Verge Hagopian, a former teacher at Mission Viejo High School. He’s driven by an interest in healthy eating, and as such, the 40-60 vendors participating will only be offering healthy food. If you get thirsty while you’re there and want a soda, for-getta-boud it. Hagopian says soda is unhealthy and you won’t find it sold there.

The farmer’s market will start in January 2012, every Friday morning next to the Mission Viejo Library. The exact hours haven’t been announced yet, but I’ll post it here later.

For more details, read Peter Schelden’s online article about the new Farmer’s Market at the Mission Viejo Patch.

I met Rene Bruce tonight at the Irvine Dog Park. I was there with my two dogs, Molly and Noodles, and my foster terrier puppy, Skoshi whose first time it was to go to the dog park.

Rene was there with two of his dogs. I watched how in sync he was with the dogs, quietly and easily calling out commands, both dogs obeying happily. I was in awe because that’s not the way it is with my little pack. I continued to watch him for a good 45 minutes, transfixed. It became a little cold, so gathered my brood, attached leashes, and readied to go, passing Rene who was now on the bench next to me.

Something inspired me to stop and ask if he trained his dogs himself. He did, something that comes naturally to him and has since he was a child.

I learned that he works closely with an animal shelter as a volunteer, don’t recall which one, working with dogs that are unadoptable due to aggression and other problems. He has a high success rate, in fact, one of the dogs at the park was one of his graduates.

Rene is an entrepreneur and inventor. Perhaps in another blog, I’ll write about that part of his life, but for now, he’s the co-founder of Print4aPet.com, a printing company that offers all the things you might expect from a printer and more, but his prices are more economical and20% of his gross goes to an animal in need, whether it be a dog, dolphin or turtle.

If you’ve ever been to Orange County Animal Services, you will have seen orange and blue signage. It was created and donated by Rene.

He’s currently working with a name you may recognize, the founder of PETA, Alex Pacheco. The website is 600million.org, its purpose to help save millions of stray dogs globally due to overpopulation.

If you have ever loved an animal, please help support the work Rene is doing by having your printing needs met through his business. You’ll save money and help animals at the same time.

The OC chapter of the International Association for Near Death Studies (IANDS) is hosting speaker Frances W Greenspan, an animal communicator. She speaks with animals both here and to those who have crossed over by tuning in telepathically to their spirit/higher self to ask questions and receive their answers.

She’ll be speaking on the death experience of animals, their afterlife, and how it compares to that of humans.

Frances has appeared on numerous pet related radio shows, in print and online magazines, and is author of the book “What Do Your Pets Want You to Know? My Story of Animal Communication”.

She’s also an artist, specializing in illustrations of animals. She was recognized by Cat Fancy Magazine as one of the most gifted animal artists in the world.

Feel free to invite all your pet owner friends and everyone else who has an interest in this topic or near-death experiences to join us.

This is an ever-growing area of interest according to the producer of Fox LA News. At OC IANDS’ meeting last month, they were there filming segments for a piece on near-death experiences. It will be televised Monday, October 10th, 2011 during the 10pm news hour. The story will also be on their website after it plays.

Q & A will follow her talk. If you have questions that are not necessarily animal related, but concerning near-death or any spiritually transformative experience, you’re welcome to ask those as well. Group members with first hand knowledge of these kinds of experiences may join in to help answer those questions.

We encourage a donation of $10 per person for our expenses, but no one is turned away. RSVP at robinbarr1@cox.net.

OC IANDS meets the 2nd Saturday of each month, from 1pm-4pm at Unity Church of Tustin, 14402 Prospect Ave., Tustin, CA. Drive to the back of the church, turn left, and park. The first room you come to will be the classroom where we meet. If you get lost, call Robin at 949-290-1949.